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LES EPISTRES ET LES EVANGILES DE TOUT L'AN SELON L'USAGE DE PARIS TRANSLATEES DE LATIN EN FRANCOIS, French translation of Jean de Vignay, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Paris, c.1400]
220 x 162mm. ii + 200 + ii leaves; COMPLETE, 29 lines written in brown ink in a bâtarde bookhand between 2 verticals and 30 horizontals ruled in grey ink, justification: 185 x 120mm, rubrics and original foliation in red, Latin incipits underlined in red, one- and two-line initials of red or blue with contrasting flourishing of black or red, NINETEEN LARGE MINIATURES, eighteen in semi-grisaille within red borders and one in full colour within a gold frame with marginal trefoil sprays, end flyleaf with coat of arms within a laurel wreath in full colour (slight pigment losses and smudging to first miniature, later coat of arms, sewing holes from silk curtains to protect miniatures). Modern panelled brown morocco gilt and stamped in blind with fleur de lis, angels, knotwork, affronted dragons, fleurons, and diapers, coat of arms inlaid, spine gilt in eight compartments, elaborate stamped and gilt doublures with roundels and a crucifixion. Brown morocco box and slipcase.
AN EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED COPY OF A BIBLICAL TRANSLATION POPULAR AMONG MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH COURT AT THE TIME OF THE DUKE OF BERRY.
PROVENANCE:
1. The arms of the original owner, which once hung over the tree in the Entry into Jerusalem, have been overpainted. This translation was initially made for a queen of France and the text remained popular among royal patrons; copies are recorded in the inventories of Charles V, Jean de Berry and Charles VI: L. Delisle, Recherches sur la Librairie de Charles V (Paris, 1907), ii, no 189; J. Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean duc de Berry (Paris, 1896), i, no 889; L. de Douët d'Arcq, Inventaire de la bibliothèque du roi Charles VI, fait au Louvre en 1423 par ordre du régent, duc de Bedford (Paris, 1867) nos 26, 78 & 126. The present manuscript cannot be identified with any of these since it is written in a bâtarde script rather than the lettre de fourme of the inventoried copies, but it seems most likely that it too was made for another court patron.
2. Jean Budé, conseiller du roi 1430-1503, father of the humanist Guillaume Budé: his autograph ex-libris of 28 November 1486 on f.199v (one c of mcccc now erased). A similar ex-libris of the same date is found in Ms franais 964 of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. For the library of Jean and Guillaume Budé see H. Omont, 'Notice sur les collections de manuscrits de Jean et Guillaume Budé', Bulletin de la société de l'Histoire de Paris, xii (1885), pp.100-113, xiii (1886) pp.112-113 and M.- C. Garand, 'Les copistes de Jean Budé', Bulletin de l'Institut de recherches et d'histoire des textes, xv (1967-68), pp.294-328.
3. In the first half of the 16th century the manuscript was owned by a women whose arms - a lozenge with Bourbon-Vendôme impaling, or rather dimidiating, Alenon - were added over the original arms in the miniature on f.1 and, surrounded by a laurel wreath, to the verso of the first of the end flyleaves. These seem likely to be the arms of Franoise d'Alenon who married Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme in 1513.
4. Joseph Barrois: acquired from him by Lord Ashburnham, Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place. Part the Second, comprising a Collection formed by Mons. J. Barrois (London, s.d.)
5. Lord Ashburnham: Catalogue of the portion of the famous collection of the manuscripts the property Rt. Hon. the Earl of Ashburnham, known as the Barrois Collection, Sotheby's, 10-14 June 1901, lot 192
6. Sotheby's, 4 June 1934, lot 42. At this date the manuscript had the ex-libris of Charles Fairfax Murray and Dyson Perrins.
7. Robert Danon Collection: Manuscrits enluminés et livres rares, sale 21 March 1973, no 4
CONTENTS:
Les Epistres et les Evangiles de tout lan selon la messel a lusage de paris translatees de latin en francois ff.1-199v; Ordo ad sponsam benedicendam ff.200r & v, marriage ceremony according to the use of Paris with the responses in French (written in a different hand).
This translation of the readings from the Epistles and Evangelists according to the use of Paris was made in 1336 by Jean de Vignay for Jeanne de Bourgogne, queen of Philippe VI de Valois. Jean de Vignay was a knight hospitaller of St-Jacques du Haut Pas; between 1326 and 1341 he translated at least a dozen Latin texts into French including a prose Alexander and the Ars Militaria of Vegetius. This translation of the readings from the Missal was one of the earliest products of the French royal family's encouragement of vernacular versions of Biblical texts: S. Berger, La Bible franaise au moyen âge (Paris, 1884), pp.221-229, and C. Knowles, 'Jean de Vignay, un traducteur du XIVe siècle', Romania, lxxv (1954), pp.362-364 (the present manuscript is not included).
ILLUMINATION:
Except for the fully coloured opening scene, the miniatures are painted in a semi-grisaille technique that was fashionable in Parisian illumination from the time of Pucelle until the early years of the 15th century. The illumination of the present manuscript can be compared with a copy of the Grandes Chroniques de France (Walters Art Gallery, W.138) which is close in figure style and is attributed to Paris at the beginning of the 15th century: L.M.C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore/London, 1989), pp.213-215. The semi-grisaille scenes of the present manuscript are set within a red border against a background of unpainted parchment and on a grassy ground of grey-green; the figures and forms are drawn with lively descriptive contours in black ink; haloes and metals are coloured with yellow wash, furnishings are red or orange and fleshtones are pale pink. It is exceptionally fully illustrated compared with both the surviving and the inventoried copies of the same text. For example, n.a.fr.4508 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris has only 6 miniatures and two other copies (Sotheby's, 18 June 1991, lots 78 & 79) had 10 miniatures and 6 miniatures respectively. The 3 copies in the Louvre inventory made on Charles VI's death were not described as having any illumination.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.1 Christ's entry into Jerusalem
f.9v Nativity with the Adoration of the Shepherds
f.12v Presentation in the Temple
f.13v Adoration of the Magi
f.16 Baptism of Christ
f.65v Supper in the House of Simon, the Magdalene anointing Christ's head
f.77 Last Supper
f.82v Crucifixion
f.88v Three Maries at the Tomb
f.101 Ascension
f.110v Trinity
f.155v St Andrew, Christ and John the Baptist
f.177v Eleven Apostles
f.183 St Stephen, St Lawrence and three martyr saints
f.187v Sts Francis, Augustine, Ambrose and ?St Clare
f.191v Sts Barbara, Catherine, Geneviève and another female saint
f.195 Communion of the Apostles
f.197 Funeral mass
[Paris, c.1400]
220 x 162mm. ii + 200 + ii leaves; COMPLETE, 29 lines written in brown ink in a bâtarde bookhand between 2 verticals and 30 horizontals ruled in grey ink, justification: 185 x 120mm, rubrics and original foliation in red, Latin incipits underlined in red, one- and two-line initials of red or blue with contrasting flourishing of black or red, NINETEEN LARGE MINIATURES, eighteen in semi-grisaille within red borders and one in full colour within a gold frame with marginal trefoil sprays, end flyleaf with coat of arms within a laurel wreath in full colour (slight pigment losses and smudging to first miniature, later coat of arms, sewing holes from silk curtains to protect miniatures). Modern panelled brown morocco gilt and stamped in blind with fleur de lis, angels, knotwork, affronted dragons, fleurons, and diapers, coat of arms inlaid, spine gilt in eight compartments, elaborate stamped and gilt doublures with roundels and a crucifixion. Brown morocco box and slipcase.
AN EXTENSIVELY ILLUSTRATED COPY OF A BIBLICAL TRANSLATION POPULAR AMONG MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH COURT AT THE TIME OF THE DUKE OF BERRY.
PROVENANCE:
1. The arms of the original owner, which once hung over the tree in the Entry into Jerusalem, have been overpainted. This translation was initially made for a queen of France and the text remained popular among royal patrons; copies are recorded in the inventories of Charles V, Jean de Berry and Charles VI: L. Delisle, Recherches sur la Librairie de Charles V (Paris, 1907), ii, no 189; J. Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean duc de Berry (Paris, 1896), i, no 889; L. de Douët d'Arcq, Inventaire de la bibliothèque du roi Charles VI, fait au Louvre en 1423 par ordre du régent, duc de Bedford (Paris, 1867) nos 26, 78 & 126. The present manuscript cannot be identified with any of these since it is written in a bâtarde script rather than the lettre de fourme of the inventoried copies, but it seems most likely that it too was made for another court patron.
2. Jean Budé, conseiller du roi 1430-1503, father of the humanist Guillaume Budé: his autograph ex-libris of 28 November 1486 on f.199v (one c of mcccc now erased). A similar ex-libris of the same date is found in Ms franais 964 of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. For the library of Jean and Guillaume Budé see H. Omont, 'Notice sur les collections de manuscrits de Jean et Guillaume Budé', Bulletin de la société de l'Histoire de Paris, xii (1885), pp.100-113, xiii (1886) pp.112-113 and M.- C. Garand, 'Les copistes de Jean Budé', Bulletin de l'Institut de recherches et d'histoire des textes, xv (1967-68), pp.294-328.
3. In the first half of the 16th century the manuscript was owned by a women whose arms - a lozenge with Bourbon-Vendôme impaling, or rather dimidiating, Alenon - were added over the original arms in the miniature on f.1 and, surrounded by a laurel wreath, to the verso of the first of the end flyleaves. These seem likely to be the arms of Franoise d'Alenon who married Charles de Bourbon, duc de Vendôme in 1513.
4. Joseph Barrois: acquired from him by Lord Ashburnham, Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place. Part the Second, comprising a Collection formed by Mons. J. Barrois (London, s.d.)
5. Lord Ashburnham: Catalogue of the portion of the famous collection of the manuscripts the property Rt. Hon. the Earl of Ashburnham, known as the Barrois Collection, Sotheby's, 10-14 June 1901, lot 192
6. Sotheby's, 4 June 1934, lot 42. At this date the manuscript had the ex-libris of Charles Fairfax Murray and Dyson Perrins.
7. Robert Danon Collection: Manuscrits enluminés et livres rares, sale 21 March 1973, no 4
CONTENTS:
Les Epistres et les Evangiles de tout lan selon la messel a lusage de paris translatees de latin en francois ff.1-199v; Ordo ad sponsam benedicendam ff.200r & v, marriage ceremony according to the use of Paris with the responses in French (written in a different hand).
This translation of the readings from the Epistles and Evangelists according to the use of Paris was made in 1336 by Jean de Vignay for Jeanne de Bourgogne, queen of Philippe VI de Valois. Jean de Vignay was a knight hospitaller of St-Jacques du Haut Pas; between 1326 and 1341 he translated at least a dozen Latin texts into French including a prose Alexander and the Ars Militaria of Vegetius. This translation of the readings from the Missal was one of the earliest products of the French royal family's encouragement of vernacular versions of Biblical texts: S. Berger, La Bible franaise au moyen âge (Paris, 1884), pp.221-229, and C. Knowles, 'Jean de Vignay, un traducteur du XIV
ILLUMINATION:
Except for the fully coloured opening scene, the miniatures are painted in a semi-grisaille technique that was fashionable in Parisian illumination from the time of Pucelle until the early years of the 15th century. The illumination of the present manuscript can be compared with a copy of the Grandes Chroniques de France (Walters Art Gallery, W.138) which is close in figure style and is attributed to Paris at the beginning of the 15th century: L.M.C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore/London, 1989), pp.213-215. The semi-grisaille scenes of the present manuscript are set within a red border against a background of unpainted parchment and on a grassy ground of grey-green; the figures and forms are drawn with lively descriptive contours in black ink; haloes and metals are coloured with yellow wash, furnishings are red or orange and fleshtones are pale pink. It is exceptionally fully illustrated compared with both the surviving and the inventoried copies of the same text. For example, n.a.fr.4508 of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris has only 6 miniatures and two other copies (Sotheby's, 18 June 1991, lots 78 & 79) had 10 miniatures and 6 miniatures respectively. The 3 copies in the Louvre inventory made on Charles VI's death were not described as having any illumination.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.1 Christ's entry into Jerusalem
f.9v Nativity with the Adoration of the Shepherds
f.12v Presentation in the Temple
f.13v Adoration of the Magi
f.16 Baptism of Christ
f.65v Supper in the House of Simon, the Magdalene anointing Christ's head
f.77 Last Supper
f.82v Crucifixion
f.88v Three Maries at the Tomb
f.101 Ascension
f.110v Trinity
f.155v St Andrew, Christ and John the Baptist
f.177v Eleven Apostles
f.183 St Stephen, St Lawrence and three martyr saints
f.187v Sts Francis, Augustine, Ambrose and ?St Clare
f.191v Sts Barbara, Catherine, Geneviève and another female saint
f.195 Communion of the Apostles
f.197 Funeral mass